Question

I live 3 doors up from my Grandmother and we both have wifi routers. Our internet is faster than hers but its throttled at peak times, so I bought a long range WIFI adapter which has a little satellite type thing for an ariel. It works great and picks up about 10 networks! Where as the one I had before picked up 2.

What I usually do is at 5PM (start of peak time) I connect to my Grannys router to use her internet as ours is down to 1MB.
Last time I used it was 2 nights ago and it worked fine, got downstream of 7mbit.

However, since then I cannot connect anymore. I can connect to my own router fine though (with signal as low as 50%, however its usually 100%)

If I point the adapter the right way, I can get 100% signal quality and 84% signal strength to her router but its always limited connectivity (no internet).

when I leave IP settings as default, its assigning me an IP of something like 70.264.30.22 but when it was working 2 days ago, my IP was 192.168.1.8
The subnet is 255.255.255.0 and the gateway is empty. It also says unkown network

When I set the IP to manual and force myself an IP of 192.168.1.8 (or 192.168.1.X) and the gateway to 192.168.1.1 (which i know is correct, its also in my browser history) it now picks up the network name but still limited connectivity.

When I manually set the IP's I can ping the router and get 4 replies all under 6ms. However I still can't connect.
I cant even open the routers config in browser at 192.168.1.1 It just says error, server never replied any data.

Not sure whats wrong here, it was working fine before and with signal at 84% (100% quality) I thought it should connect no problem.

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[quote name='sc302' timestamp='1356892365' post='595423554']
verify your grandmothers settings on her router, check the IP on her computer and see if she can get out. then check your settings.
[/quote]
yeah thats my next plan, unfortunately shes not home but will do this as soon as she is.

Just dont understand why it connected fine before on auto IP but now im having to manually set the IP to even get a connection.

[quote name='JJ_' timestamp='1356893118' post='595423568']
It could be her router crapped out, some third party routers do that and are fine after a reboot. Or perhaps your gran enabled mac filtering
[/quote]
haha could be the first one. Definitely not the second! haha she can get to facebook thats about it! I've seen her type google into google! rofl!

Also, even if it were MAC filtering, i would get an error or something rather than just no IP or SSID until i manually set an IP.

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[quote name='Guth' timestamp='1356893157' post='595423574']I've seen her type google into google![/quote]

Heh I think that's a trait with old people. To come to think of it, you're right if mac filtering was enabled, you wouldn't be able to connect to the network. Try the following commands in elevated command prompt:

ipconfig/release
ipconfig/flushdns

Then disable your wired adapter if you are wired leaving only the wireless adapter enabled enter these in command prompt:

ipconfig/renew
ipconfig/registerdns

Now connect to her network after and see if there's any change:

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[quote name='JJ_' timestamp='1356893563' post='595423586']
Heh I think that's a trait with old people. To come to think of it, you're right if mac filtering was enabled, you wouldn't be able to connect to the network. Try the following commands in elevated command prompt:

ipconfig/release
ipconfig/flushdns

Then disable your wired adapter if you are wired leaving only the wireless adapter enabled enter these in command prompt:

ipconfig/renew
ipconfig/registerdns

Now connect to her network after and see if there's any change:
[/quote]
No still no change
Dont get this at all. When I leave it at auto, the router assigns me no IP which Is why I dont get connectivity obviously
when I manually do it, all I can do is ping the router

I was just thinking that her router has one of those connect buttons, you know you press it and then connect to it. Maybe thats why I can't connect?
However, I've never had a problem before
[quote name='sc302' timestamp='1356893367' post='595423580']
setup remote access like teamviewer or logmein free so that you can troubleshoot when she isn't home.
[/quote]
Thats a great idea I will definitely do that in the future

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[quote name='JJ_' timestamp='1356895529' post='595423616']
Hmm that's odd. Does your gran have an ADSL or Cable connection?
[/quote]
ADSL
Cant figure this out at all, don't think she will be home till atleast tomorrow either.
looks like I may just have to put up with throttling for a day or two

I would put it down to the distance, had I not connected before and have signal of 84%

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Is it possible to sign into the router/modem and check the device logs? I know with mine there is an option (though depending on the modem) this sometimes can only be checked when connected directly to it.

That may shed some light - on what is going on.

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[quote name='redvamp128' timestamp='1356896921' post='595423632']
Is it possible to sign into the router and check logs? I know with mine there is an option (though depending on the modem) this sometimes can only be checked when connected directly to it.

That may shed some light - on what is going on.
[/quote]
afraid not, once I manually set IP, the network ID comes up (rather than unidentified network) and I can ping 192.168.1.1 but can't visit in browser

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I have seen this once a while ago- you may want to check to see for example if the device is set to hibernate on the computer it is attached to... In other words let us say your grann'ys computer goes to sleep so it will tell the modem to hibernate as well (it didn't before because you were using it) Just a thought.

That is just a thought of something to check based upon the -- it was working -- then poof no internet.

also have this a look --

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813827

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I have a sneaky suspicion her modem/router has lost its WAN connection or it may have a built in feature to auto disconnect from the ISP after a certain amount of time idle. When your nan gets back ask her to cycle power the modem/router's power and I'm sure you should be able to connect again without a problem

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One thing I don't understand about throttling is that their throttling gets the internet slow to a crawl when I download a certain amouth with a wired connection but itcs normal when downoading through a wireles connection...

Why is this? Anyone else experienced the same? :confused:

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Thanks for the further tips guys, I'm thinking you could be right, I haven't spoken to her for a few days but last time I was logged in I did notice she hadn't been connected for atleast a day before that and she is the only user.

I am with Sky but they have no hardware in our exchange so they are reselling BT. Therefore we can only get Sky Connect which is throttled between 5 and 1AM
BT don't throttle in my area as its their hardware, thats who Gran is with and who we will be switching to in a month when our Sky contract is up

EDIT:
Been doing some reading and the 169.254.x.x IP I am getting is a Link Local address. Its what windows assigns when the computer doesnt get an IP from the router.
So by me manually assigning the IP, thats why it seems a little better when infact it isn't. The router is still doing (or not doing) the same thing.

Guess I'll just need to wait until she is home to reboot it and like others have said, I suspect that will fix the problems.

(Or maybe I could somehow cut the power to her house to restart it haha)

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[quote name='sagum' timestamp='1356903344' post='595423744']
Only 3 doors up? I'd have already had Ethernet cable in the ground
[/quote]
its maybe only even 2 depending on how its counted
5-----7------9 -----11
^gran---------------^us

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[quote name='Guth' timestamp='1356901378' post='595423710']
Thanks for the further tips guys, I'm thinking you could be right, I haven't spoken to her for a few days but last time I was logged in I did notice she hadn't been connected for atleast a day before that and she is the only user.

I am with Sky but they have no hardware in our exchange so they are reselling BT. Therefore we can only get Sky Connect which is throttled between 5 and 1AM
BT don't throttle in my area as its their hardware, thats who Gran is with and who we will be switching to in a month when our Sky contract is up

EDIT:
Been doing some reading and the 169.254.x.x IP I am getting is a Link Local address. Its what windows assigns when the computer doesnt get an IP from the router.
So by me manually assigning the IP, thats why it seems a little better when infact it isn't. The router is still doing (or not doing) the same thing.

Guess I'll just need to wait until she is home to reboot it and like others have said, I suspect that will fix the problems.

(Or maybe I could somehow cut the power to her house to restart it haha)
[/quote]

Definitely sounds like something has gone wrong her end, if shes not in the house atm, maybe shes unplugged a few things, you know how oaps are for worrying

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[quote name='Guth' timestamp='1356905181' post='595423774']
its maybe only even 2 depending on how its counted
5-----7------9 -----11
^gran---------------^us
[/quote]

If there was a way to lay some Ethernet, I can't stress enough how wrong it would be for you to get a mate or two and a jimmy/crow bar (commonly called breaker bar from the local hardware stores) and lift the slabs outside your house to slip under some cable or even throw Ethernet cable up into the cutters (if you're in terraced houses). I certainly wouldn't advise taking a spade, sticking it in garden at the front or rear about a foot down to make a trench and then dropping the cable in and pressing it back so it doesn't look like you've been digging.. nope. I've never done anything like that and you shouldn't either! while these ideas and any others you can think of to get Ethernet connected between you and your gran are much better then wireless for connectivity you shouldn't do it. It might seem attractive for 30meters worth of cat5 for around

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[quote name='sagum' timestamp='1356911007' post='595423894']
If there was a way to lay some Ethernet, I can't stress enough how wrong it would be for you to get a mate or two and a jimmy/crow bar (commonly called breaker bar from the local hardware stores) and lift the slabs outside your house to slip under some cable or even throw Ethernet cable up into the cutters (if you're in terraced houses). I certainly wouldn't advise taking a spade, sticking it in garden at the front or rear about a foot down to make a trench and then dropping the cable in and pressing it back so it doesn't look like you've been digging.. nope. I've never done anything like that and you shouldn't either! while these ideas and any others you can think of to get Ethernet connected between you and your gran are much better then wireless for connectivity you shouldn't do it. It might seem attractive for 30meters worth of cat5 for around

Well I highly doubt it was anything like to be honest, for starters 264 is not even a valid octet

I would guess the IP was APIPA, and started with 169.254.x.x

This is the automatic random IP many OSes setup when set for DHCP and no dhcp server answers.

Nothing to be done until you can check the router - for all we know she turned on mac filtering You say you can ping her router, can you access it via its remote console. This is quite often disabled via wireless in the first place as a security measure, etc. But you could try - if you can then you can verify it has wan connection and its dhcp server is on, etc.

Well I highly doubt it was anything like to be honest, for starters 264 is not even a valid octet

I would guess the IP was APIPA, and started with 169.254.x.x

This is the automatic random IP many OSes setup when set for DHCP and no dhcp server answers.

Nothing to be done until you can check the router - for all we know she turned on mac filtering You say you can ping her router, can you access it via its remote console. This is quite often disabled via wireless in the first place as a security measure, etc. But you could try - if you can then you can verify it has wan connection and its dhcp server is on, etc.
[/quote]
yeah sorry I didn't copy the IP down that was written from memory (only glanced at it). Yes you are correct it was 169.254 I realised my mistake when I posted later about the Link Local IP (169.254.x.x)

Yeah I will just have to wait until she is home.
I can ping 192.168.1.1 but if I visit that in browser then it just times out. Chrome gives me error of server didn't respond with any data (or words to that effect)

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Its very bad practice to allow router admin gui access from wireless - I would hope most routers have this disabled by default..

Or it could be that just the router has crashed and all its really doing is answering pings. Which would explain why you can not get on the internet even if you setup an IP on its range and point to it as gateway. You sure that is the routers IP your pointing to for gateway and dns, and not some other IP on the network

The most likely issue is router is just hosed/crashed/hung, etc. And a reboot will fix it up.